Unusual Adventures
by monsoonblues
Summary: This is just inspired by thief lord, doesn't include characters or settings from the book: it's a story of three kids, Milana, Mosca and Manni who run away from an orphanage and about their adventures, mostly an attempt at humour.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I know, I know, this doesn't have much to do with The Thief Lord, but I'll honestly say I was inspired to write this story because of it, don't hate me yet, just read it. I promise it'll get better as you keep reading.

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Childhood, a beautiful phase. It has adventure that comes from exploring a huge fascinating world contained within a tiny, dusty neighbourhood; it has humour derived from something as simple as the sight of an incredibly fat man bending to pick up a coin off the road which a scheming young kid stuck to it and which you know won't come off, no matter how much the fat guy grunts and tugs; and most of all, innocence. The innocence that defines childhood. The innocence which trickles through every act of kindness, goodwill and friendship made by those 3-foot beings that adults scarcely notice. You must be wondering why I talk like a philosophical old fool with nothing better to do than eye that curvy neighbour of mine who bakes me cakes every now and then. Well, I suggest that you all settle down comfortably in your seats while I narrate to you the wonderful, amusing and adventurous stories of three very special children: Milana, Mosca and Manni. (Yes, I'm aware of the alliteration, unintentional I assure you.)

Once upon a time, there was a small, shady town named Aria, not that it isn't there anymore but I like being dramatic. There is a dusty little neighbourhood there filled with small houses which look like they were all shoved together untidily by a giant hand rather than built by an enterprising young man who was more skilled in spitting contests than in building houses. Diablo his name was and last I heard of him, he was smuggling rose-coloured pacifiers across the country. But I digress.

Now, in a biggish hulk of a building named 'Three Cheers Orphanage' lived three absolutely delightful little children, one, a girl and two boys. Even though she was a girl, Milana hated behaving like one. I believe she said it took too much effort in trying to be graceful and dignified, especially while attempting to lock up that pain-in-the-neck snitch, Roy in a broom closet. In fact, she was such an effective tomboy, you'd never know from looking at her that she was in fact a bonnie lass! Brown as a berry that one, with short black hair that made her look like a mushroom…and lovely almond shaped eyes…with always too much mischief in them. What a bundle of energy she was! Manni, on the other hand was the quiet one. He always had an air of wisdom and maturity about him, unusual for an eight year old. This quality, combined with his golden complexion, shiny black hair and brilliantly violet eyes made him an instant hit with the ladies. Not that he ever noticed. And last of all, Mosca. With ebony skin and a shiny bald head, he had a brilliant street smart mind and a solid comforting presence. One could always rely on Mosca. If there was ever a problem, never fear for Mosca would be there! The Formidable Three they called themselves. And indeed they were. A tiny little gang of eight year olds respected and feared even by the older children at the orphanage. With this introduction, we shall now plunge headlong into the fascinating story of this incredible trio and marvel at their mysterious and exhilarating adventures.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: It's a bit of a long story, so please bear with me...

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"And just what do you think you are doing?" boomed Miss Jensen, the fat temperamental matron of the orphanage as three pairs of running feet abruptly came to a halt.

"Uh, nothing Miz J, we were just running to see Tina, we heard she was sick and we being good friends of hers, well, we were concerned!" said Mila, with the practised ease that comes with being a very convincing fibber. Add to that the innocent wide-eyed look flashed by her and the fervently nodding heads of Mosca and Manni, you'd think Miss Jensen would be crazy not to believe them.

But sadly, it was not to be so. She had a shrewd mind which could not be easily deceived, "Do you really expect me to believe you, you little punks? I know you can't stand Tina. Why, Wheezy told me that he saw with his very own eyes how you tried to slip a lizard under her sheets the other night. Ha!"

"No kidding Miz J!" exclaimed Mosca, "But we weren't even in the dorm that night! Honest! Ask LaPointe if you want! All three of us were scrubbing the kitchen floors with him that night because we were all of us mighty sorry about dropping those stink pellets in the hall last week!"

"Exactly Miz J! Now as talented as we may be, we still can't be in two places at once, can we now?" said Mila as Manni nodded solemnly beside her.

Still not convinced, Miss Jensen turned to Manni, for she trusted him, and for the life of her couldn't figure out why he spent his time with those two hoodlums. "Is this true, Manni?" she asked.

"Yes it is Miss Jensen, they're telling you the truth. We were praying to the Lord in the prayer hall for the good of everyone at this orphanage when we were interrupted by Juliet, who said that Tina was ill and needed company…as soon as we heard the news we simply went rushing to see her and were on our way to see her when you hailed us," explained Manni.

Satisfied with his explanation, Miss Jensen turned to the other two and said, "You're lucky Manni was here to clear up everything. Now don't you two be getting him into trouble, be off!" She looked darkly at them as they hastily walked away.

"Manni, you darling little angel, we're ever so grateful to you for saving us!"

"Yeah! You couldn't nearly imagine how lucky we are to have ya! We're sorry though if we gotcha in trouble"

"Oh shut up you two," Manni said absently, "We have to be more careful next time, she won't always believe my calm demeanour you know"

"Yeah, I know, can't believe how close we got to being punished!" said Mila.

"Yeah," Mosca agreed, "But it wasn't our fault, just how were we supposed to know that Wheezy would pop into the kitchen while we were whacking cookies? He's normally losing bets at Poppy's at that time…we're darn lucky though…it's almost as if God _wanted_ us to steal cookies, 'cos He knows we deserve them."

"Absolutely! I mean, do we have a raw deal or what? And it's not like we ever did anything terribly wrong," said Mila.

"Except maybe the time we tried to unscrew that ugly chandelier in Miss Jensen's office…or maybe when we slipped that lizard in Tina's bed…….and oh yeah when we stole Wheezy's wig and tossed it on the oak tree outside where the birds made a nest out of it..." Manni observed.

"Hmm, and we _did_ start that food fight the day before yesterday 'cos Frankie called me a…a boitserus…uh botserus…umm…whatsit?"asked Mila.

"Boisterous brat?" Manni offered.

"Oh yeah! I mean, just who does he think he is talking to me like that?" said an agitated Mila.

"Well, at least we gave him what he was asking for…"Mosca trailed off.

They walked into the dormitory where children either smiled or saluted in greeting, for the three of them had earned a place of respect among those aggrieved by life at the orphanage. Most of the children looked upon the Formidable Three (as they called themselves) as the leaders of an honourable cause; a cause whose very thought ignited flame in the little hearts of the children, a cause that tested their resolve and determination. What was this cause you ask? To make life hell for the cruel staff of the orphanage who took sadistic pleasure in terrorizing the innocents they were supposed to cater to.

"Guys! I just heard how you escaped from Miss Jensen! Great job!"

"You were awesome!"

"How come she never believes _us_ when we lie to her?" demanded a bewildered fan.

"Because," drawled Mosca, "We're professionals."

As the tiny crowd oohed and aahed over their daredevilry, the three of them piled onto Mila's bed in the corner of the dorm.

"I'm s-so tired," yawned Mila as she curled up with her small ragged brown teddy bear Pookey.

"Winnie was taken in yesterday," said Manni, "By a family from Isen. I heard they were nice."

"I would _never_ wanna go live with some family in a dump like Isen. Imagine that! Isen! The only interesting thing about that place must be the name." declared Mosca.

"Yeah, I mean why would anyone want to be adopted anyway? You'd have to listen to others telling you what to eat, where to go or what to do," responded Mila.

"It's such an awful bore having to live by such rules. But it's not like _we'll_ have to worry about being taken in," said Manni.

"Yeah," snickered Mosca, "We're way too good for some stuffy and boring old family to handle."

And they all fell into a thoughtful silence, defiantly thinking that they were above such rules and needs. But deep within their hearts, they were a bit sad, even though they didn't know it.

Every time a new couple or family came in to adopt a child there, they were always neglected or ignored because their reputation as mischief makers preceded them. Initially they would be hopeful, they weren't as bad as some of the kids there, like Roy, the snotty little kid who always ratted on them if he was lucky enough to see them doing something they shouldn't be doing. But after even _he_ found a home, their hopes dimmed considerably. It hurt them, the little stab of rejection, the disappointment and the feeling that they weren't good enough. They wouldn't admit it, but there were times when they wished that they too would find a nice new home, away from the stuffy orphanage, away from all the loneliness.

Strangely though, this sadness only sought to bring the three closer together as friends. While they were together, their woes seemed to fade to something small and insignificant. They revelled in each other's company, pretending to be superheroes with amazing powers battling the evil monsters' gang led by Miss Jensen. You would never see one of them without the other two nearby. They were, as LaPointe liked to say, 'three pods in a pea'. Before you jump with outrage at the blasphemous mix up of words and point out that the phrase is in fact 'three _peas_ in a _pod_', I will just say this: LaPointe had his own style, a bit eccentric at times, but still, unique. Of all the people who worked there, they liked Lapointe, the maintenance man, the best. Because he was kind to them. And understood their needs and reasons for acting out, and was yet wise and compassionate enough to treat them with the respect they demanded without being patronising. But the real reason why they liked LaPointe so much was because he neither winced nor grew tearful with false sympathy on seeing them and so they used to spend some of their free time helping him fix everything from broken taps to fused bulbs to shattered chandeliers.

Their day started out at 8 in the morning when the twenty-seven children at the orphanage would all be woken by Miss Jensen's loud grating voice. As the undeclared heroes of the orphanage, Mila, Mosca and Manni always had the opportunity to brush and bathe first; but since they weren't in the habit of flouting their authority, they never took advantage of that chance but always waited in line like the other children. At 8.30 sharp they had their breakfast of oatmeal and bananas on weekdays and eggs and bacon on weekends. At 9.30 they would have lessons with Mr. Pambry, a sour old man who taught with the enthusiasm generally found among those grieving at a funeral. He may not have been a very good teacher but the books he gave them to read were quite interesting. And the three loved reading them, for in them lay the doors to different worlds and times. They would look at geography books and wonder where they would live when they were older. The history books were even better, full of stories about powerful empires, brilliant conquerors and amazing strategies that won wars. All they needed then was their imagination to transport them through those doors to other realms.

At 12.30 they would have lunch, simple fare consisting of bread, soup and meatloaf or chicken. When Wheezy, the cook, was in a good mood, he would surprise them with something like lasagne, which was always devoured with overwhelming enthusiasm. After that, the children were free to do as they wished. Most took a nap but not our three little friends. They would huddle together in a corner and play board games or discuss ingenious new ploys to harass Miss Jensen and Wheezy. At 4 o' clock was teatime. They would have milkshake and cookies after which they would go out to play in the small backyard on the rusty swings and slides. Sometimes, they played dodge ball, and Mila almost always won. At 7 o' clock they had dinner, which was generally the same as lunch. Finally, at eight, they were all ushered into bed by Miss Jensen. It was dangerous to cross her at that moment when she was already tired and cranky with the day's effort. She was supposed to be assisted in her duties by a ditzy, young girl Rhea who had a brain the size of a peanut and the three-second memory of a goldfish, but she often ended up doing more harm than good. She wasn't as unpopular among the children as the rest of the staff (excepting LaPointe who was universally loved) but she was the sort who thought of children as cute, cuddly little toys who incidentally had the gift of speech. Thoroughly patronizing in her attitude towards children, little did she realise that each one of those tiny kids was smarter than she could ever be.

By 9 o' clock, most of the children fell asleep. But Mila, Mosca and Manni would pile onto Mila's bed in the corner and talk about anything and everything. They would discuss life at the orphanage, exchange notes on how best to carry out deceitful activities right under Miss Jensen's nose and plot and scheme about the next day's adventures. Often they wondered aloud about how the world would be outside the walls of the orphanage. A part of them knew it would be scary, but mostly they just thought that it would be amazing for them to be able to explore the fascinating streets and locales of the city. The one place that they always dreamed of going to was Sera, a beautiful, vast city known for the opportunities it had to offer to people from every part of the world. A city which welcomed everyone: young and old, rich and poor, hopeful and weary, with open arms.

"I just can't wait to get out of this dump and go to Sera," Mila said.

"Yes," agreed Manni, "I heard that there are houses in Sera, which are almost as big as the town square here, some even bigger! And that the people who live there have enough money to fill a ship!"

"Really?" asked an incredulous Mosca, his eyes filled with wonder.

"Yes!" Manni said.

"I wish we could go there," Mila went on, her voice feverish; "I'll even work if I have to if it means I can get to stay some place that beautiful. Anywhere has to better than Aria. And there'll be no one there to tell us when to play and when to eat and when to sleep..."

"I heard two people talking about Sera in the market the other day; when we had to get the groceries, remember? Well, one of them said that the streets there are paved with gold! Imagine that!" exclaimed Mosca.

"You're joking! You mean the streets there are made of gold?" Mila asked incredulously.

"You're both silly, when he said the streets are paved with gold, it was a metaphor which implied that people are very well-off in Sera and that there are many opportunities there," Manni explained.

"What's a meta-for?" Mila asked blankly.

"Never mind that, I knew it was too good to be true anyway," Mosca sighed.

All three of them lay on the tiny little bed as their eyes lit up with the dreams and hopes of escaping to a better place filled with beauty unparalleled. They thought about tiny side streets covered with cobblestones, vendors selling exotic wares ranging from the practical to the fanciful, jugglers and singers and magicians earning their living by performing on the streets, huge spectacular mansions owned by the rich and famous, lavish fountains with exquisite marble sculptures, tall spacious cathedrals with thick pillars and heavy and bronze bells which clanged every now and then as the birds fluttered across the stained glass windows of the ancient buildings.

With these lovely thoughts running through their heads, they started to doze off one by one and dreamt of a rich, comfortable life being pampered in one of the magnificent houses in Sera.


	3. Chapter 3

4

The Formidable Three woke up amidst chaos the next morning. As they groggily rubbed the sleep out of their eyes they could see Miss Jensen's large form chasing after something in the dormitory with Wheezy tailing behind holding a spatula in his hand. Many of the children were excitedly jumping up and down and shouting to cheer the staff on, who were currently very much involved in trying to catch a little black puppy which had a sausage in its mouth. The little black puppy was weaving around the beds, streaking here and there just out of Miss Jensen's reach.

Then suddenly, the puppy sprang onto one of the beds and started jumping from one bed to the next, frantically trying to find an exit. Thinking quickly, Mila tossed a pillow on to the floor in front of Miss Jensen, who in her haste slipped on it and flew into the air before crashing down with a yelp. Wheezy, who was following close on Miss Jensen's heels, tripped over her and went flying down the dorm and landed flat on his face. Meanwhile, Mosca rushed to the windows and threw them open as Manni picked up the grateful puppy and carefully set him outside the window in the backyard.

With the anguished yells of two adults ringing in its ears, the puppy scrambled through the yard and out through a gap in the fence as Mila, Mosca and Manni delightedly waved at its retreating form.

On turning around they saw the rest of the children laughing and clapping in response to their heroic act of bravery. But before they could fully appreciate the applause, their blood drained as they saw a livid Miss Jensen hobbling along threateningly towards them while she leaned heavily on Wheezy's shoulder. As frustrated as he may have been, the expression on Wheezy's face couldn't have been nearly as frightening as the one on Miss Jensen's face which was slowly turning red until it matched her hair, which by now was severely disordered with the physical exertion.

"You…why you little…you're not getting away with this…" she breathed through clenched teeth, "I have been too lenient with you, oh yes…you are not going to get away _this_ time…after I'm done with you three, you'll wish you were _never born_…"

And suddenly, she burst into a shrill loud laugh which vibrated through the entire room. Her tiny blue eyes were crinkled up as she continued to laugh maniacally, even managing to scare Wheezy who was slowly trying to edge out of her iron grasp. Never before had any of the children seen her like this. Their stout hearts quailed at the sight of her, laughing with a crazy gleam in her eyes.

As suddenly as she burst out laughing, she stopped. She grabbed Mila by the shoulder and ordered Wheezy to follow with Manni and Mosca. All the other children silently looked on with bated breath as their heroes were almost dragged out. As the doors closed behind them, the Formidable Three could hear the babble of conversation break out in the dorm. They nervously glanced at each other as they were being led towards impending doom. As they walked towards Miss Jensen's office, the feeling of dread only intensified. They had resigned themselves to the worst when Miss Jensen slammed the doors shut behind them, vaguely thinking that even if she tried to torture them no one would hear their screams behind those heavy oak doors.

"Oh you're in for it now," whispered Wheezy, delighted that they would finally get their due after all the torments they subjected him to.

"Never in all my years here, _never_ have I encountered anyone as rowdy, as misbehaved, as… as _monstrous_ as you three!" said Miss Jensen, her fury barely controlled, "I have put up with you for three years, three years now…if any one else had been in my place, they would have tossed you out on your ungrateful backs the first week you came in here…I try so hard, _so_ hard! Not even those pathetic families from Rocher would adopt you! And that's saying something! Not even the lowest, most disgusting people want to keep you…doesn't that make you the least bit ashamed of your sorry selves?

"I have had it with you. I am giving you one last chance. This is your last chance you hear me? One more mistake, even the smallest slip, and I will throw you out on the streets. I don't care about the consequences, no law can accuse me of being unfair…you may be children but you don't deceive me…you three are the very _essence_ of evil…" she screamed. She tried to talk further but she seemed to have lost her voice with all the shouting.

As she breathed heavily, trying to gain some control over her rage, she managed, "From now on, you will not be allowed to play, or attend your lessons. Oh yes, that would be perfect. I heard you love reading those books in the library, don't you? Well, you will not so much as_ touch _those books again. And you will not sleep in the dormitory where you can corrupt the other children, oh no you won't. You'll sleep in the basement, with all the rats and cockroaches running around there, I'm sure you'll love that…and you will help Wheezy in the kitchen, scrub all those grimy dishes…you will sweep and mop every inch of this orphanage until its spotless…from now on, you will have no comfort, none at all…don't wrinkle your nose about sleeping in the basement you little wretch, after all the work I'll make you do, you'll be begging me to let you go to sleep, with rats and all!"

As she rubbed her hands with glee, the children stared at her with disbelief which was gradually replaced by full blown horror as they realised that she was serious. They couldn't believe what was happening to them, all they did was save a poor puppy! They had done nothing to deserve this! With a sinking feeling they realised the seriousness of the situation they were in.

"But, but you can't Miz J!" pleaded Mila.

"You can't do that to us!" said an equally outraged Mosca.

"Watch me, you dirty little rats," snarled Miss Jensen, "Wheezy, take them with you, they are to do whatever chores you give them from now on…and don't you worry about going easy on them…"

"Yes, Miss Jensen," rasped Wheezy, absolutely beside himself with joy at the punishment meted out to the children.

As the children trailed after Wheezy, they cast each other worried glances.

"What do you think he'll make us do? Scrub dishes again?" whispered Mosca.

"Maybe he will, I hate to think what he's got planned for us. Look at him! He looks so satisfied!" Manni replied.

"Shut up you little mongrels! There'll be no talking while I'm walking!" said Wheezy, chortling at his small joke.

"He calls that a joke?" Mila whispered, "No wonder he has no friends. He's ridiculously unfunny and he smells like an animal that might have curled up and died in a heap of garbage…"

As the boys snickered, Wheezy snapped his head around and glared at them suspiciously while they looked at him innocently.

A little while later, the children ended up working in the kitchen with Wheezy. Mosca was scrubbing great big utensils covered with grime. Mila and Manni were peeling and chopping onions for lunch and as a result, there were tears streaming down their cheeks, not that they wouldn't have wanted to cry anyway. Their tummies rumbled as they hadn't eaten breakfast as yet. At a quarter to nine, they helped Wheezy and Rhea dole out oatmeal to the rest of the children who gave them sympathetic glances and words of comfort which didn't really help. Before the oatmeal got over, they tried to get some breakfast for themselves, but Miss Jensen ordered Mila, Mosca and Manni to clean up and carry all the dirty dishes into the kitchen. Too scared to protest, they went about carrying and cleaning the dishes, all the while thinking of how ravenous they were.

Before they thought they would rest a while, it was time to serve lunch and they forcefully dragged their feet to get to work. After they served lunch, they ate some leftovers in the kitchen by themselves as Wheezy had gone off on a break. Alone for the time being, they relaxed a little.

"I'm so tired," Mila said tearfully.

"And hungry," added Mosca, who was just as miserable.

"We better eat slowly, or we'll be hungry within two hours," suggested Manni.

"I hate Miz J!" cried Mila, "Why is she doing this to us?"

"It was only a little puppy, and he was so helpless!" said Manni.

"Miz J hates dogs, and she hates us too. She loves seeing us suffer. And Wheezy. He hardly did anything! He just made us do all of the work! He barely stirred the soup once or twice. I wish LaPointe were here. I miss him so much. He would have done something. Anything!" exclaimed Mosca.

Close to tears themselves, the boys comforted Mila as she sniffled. Being a little younger than them, they were always fiercely protective of her. And right now, they felt even more miserable as she started sobbing softly.

"Don't cry, Mila, please? It'll be alright, LaPointe will come back soon. I'm sure he's just gone for a few days…he'll take care of us. I'm sure of it!" soothed Mosca, desperately willing himself to believe his own words.

"Yeah, Mila, don't cry…at least we're together aren't we? It's better than last time when they forced us to stay away from each other…" Manni went on earnestly, as a single tear trickled down his cheek.

Slowly, they ended up comforting each other and calmed down enough to determinedly tackle the mountain of dirty dishes waiting for them in the sink.

As the day dragged on, they swept, mopped and dusted half the rooms in the orphanage only to realise with a sense of despair that there were many more rooms left to clean. At dinner time, they hungrily polished their plates of every last crumb, and still weren't sated. Rhea refused to give them second helpings claiming that troublemakers like them didn't deserve more than they were given. And they were too proud to accept sneaked bits of food from the others. As the rest of the children trooped into the dormitory, Mila, Mosca and Manni were forced to wait to clear all the dishes and wash them for the third time that day.

After an extremely tiring day of hard manual labour, the three were sent in to the basement with three torn mattresses and bed sheets by the very vindictive Miss Jensen.

As the small door to the basement creaked open, a huge rat scuttled around their feet and down the hallway, giving them a huge fright. With their teeth chattering partly out of fear and partly due to the cold, they slowly made their way to the cleanest and seemingly rodent free spot on the floor and spread their mattresses out. They huddled close together to protect themselves from unseen enemies which prowled around in the dark. They were too afraid to go to sleep there; even you would be if you possessed the over-active imagination of an eight year old. And there _were_ things to be afraid of in the dark confines of the basement. But no matter how many reservations they had at the moment, the fact remained that they were just three 8 year olds who were completely exhausted from the day's work which would have proved too much even for healthier adults. And so, within ten minutes, they slipped into the deep sleep that usually accompanies such total and bone deep tiredness.


	4. Chapter 4

"Mosca! Manni! Wake up! I think it's morning, I can hear noises from upstairs…" said Mila as she eyed the dark corners of the basement fearfully.

"Wha…what?" said Mosca as he gaped around, disoriented.

"Wake up! We should go upstairs before we land ourselves in more trouble…" Mila insisted.

"I had the worst nightmare," said Manni, "I dreamt that I was eating oatmeal in a giant pot, and it was dirty and smelly and had flies on it and stuff…and then suddenly this humongous rat peeked in… and it saw me and was trying to poke its head in the pot and then…and then it was trying to swallow me whole!"

"Oh, is that why you were thrashing about in your sleep? You poked me in the ribs…it still hurts…" said Mosca as he gingerly touched his chest, "I was dreaming too though, I thought maybe it was a hunter poking me with his gun…only, in the dream I was a goose…how strange…"

"Would you two stop babbling and hurry up?" Mila scolded as she gathered up the bed sheets and tried to fold them as best as she could.

"Alright, alright…ouch! My whole body is sore…oh dear, I believe we have to clean out the toilets today…"

"And those cobwebs in the store room…"

"We also have to sweep the yard…how are we going to get everything done? If we leave anything out, well, I hate to think what Miz J would do to us…do you think she'll cane us?"

With these gloomy thoughts haunting them, the three managed to fold all the bed sheets. Hefting the mattresses over their skinny shoulders, they slowly made their way up the stairs and dumped everything in the closet. Just as they were closing the closet door, they saw Rhea flouncing along towards them. She was wearing a bright green dress with red polka dots and yellow nail paint which combined with her frizzy brown hair and red boots made her resemble an exotic parrot that may have escaped from a tropical rain forest.

When Rhea saw the three sniggering at her appearance as she swaggered up to them, her lips thinned. Something seemed to have occurred to her suddenly, because an evil grin suddenly lit up her pasty face.

Rhea said, "That's right, laugh all you want now, you won't be laughing long…you're to drag your sorry little selves up to the kitchen after you've cleaned up…Wheezy needs help with the dishes and there are piles of them…and oh yes, the toilets are absolutely filthy…let's see how happy you look as you scrub them…I'll just bet all your little friends are laughing at you right now…not so brave now are we? Ha!"

As the three stared up at Rhea with looks of mingled hate and disgust, she tossed her head up haughtily and strode out down the hallway.

"One of these days, she's gonna get it…ooh is she gonna get it…" snarled Mila.

Mosca sighed, "Well, I suppose we should go now…get to work, won't help if we dawdled…"

Like the previous day, they threw themselves into the gruelling routine once again, and scrubbed and cleaned and swept and dusted. They eventually realised that Rhea was right, the toilets really were filthy. But with thoughts of Rhea in a pool filled with crocodiles, Rhea being roasted over a spitfire and a grand piano falling from the sky on Rhea's head respectively, Mosca, Mila and Manni gamely tackled all their responsibilities until the toilets were sparkling clean. Even they had to step back a moment and admire their handiwork. The rest of the day involved more back breaking labour and little rest. By bedtime, they were so tired that they didn't even bother keeping a lookout for the nocturnal predators in the basement, and fell into deep slumber.

This continued for three more days, and they saw little of Miss Jensen, mostly because they avoided her as skilfully as they could.

Then on a fateful Saturday, an event took place that would change the entire course of their lives as they knew it.

The rest of the children had gone out on a picnic with Rhea and Wheezy accompanying them while Miss Jensen stayed behind to finish up on some paperwork, or so she said. Our poor little trio, on the other hand was stuck at the orphanage, still toiling and infinitely miserable. They were sweeping the corridors in the early evening. Under normal circumstances, they would probably be debating grave matters like whether or not chocolate chips tasted good in strawberry ice cream, while they slurped down their milk and crunched on ginger biscuits at that moment.

"I am sooo lonely…I can't think of my life without you…oh! Please come home to me…" crooned Manni.

"For the _love_ of all that is good and holy, would you please _shut up_ man?" said Mosca

"You call that singing!" demanded Mila, "It sounds more like the croak of a dying frog!"

"How can I expect boors like you to understand music?" asked Manni, "You wouldn't recognise true genius even if it stared you in the face!"

"You're…what's that word? Delusional! That's it! You're delusional…and you're also tone deaf!" claimed Mila

Before Manni could sulk any more, Mosca suddenly brought his hand up to silence them.

"Do you hear that?" he asked, "It's coming from Miz J's office…"

As they strained their ears, they faintly heard some music drifting from the direction of Miss Jensen's office.

Unable to contain their curiosity, they shuffled across the hall and tiptoed to Miss Jensen's door, which was slightly ajar. What they saw inside left them numb with shock.

As they gaped with their mouths open, Miss Jensen danced to the music, oblivious to three pairs of prying eyes. She seemed to be doing something that was a cross between a foxtrot and a salsa, all by herself. She was jerking her body into sudden, spastic movements in rhythm with the music. If it weren't for the music, the three would have thought that she was having an epileptic fit. As she twisted and gyrated, the many tires of fat around her waist flopped up and down until it was growing painful to watch any longer. They continued to watch in horror, unable to tear their eyes away from the sight they were witnessing.

As Mosca craned his neck to get a better look, Mila pushed at him because he was obscuring her vision, resulting in a small and silent scuffle. Manni was desperately trying to mediate between them while he watched Miss Jensen execute a not very graceful pirouette causing her to nearly stumble with the effort. As they pushed and tugged at each other, Manni accidentally fell forward towards the door which flew open and hit the delicately carved table which was standing against the wall. As the tiny little table wobbled, a beautiful Ming vase that was resting on it, tottered for a bit before it fell crashing to the floor and broke into pieces. All this happened within a matter of seconds. As Mila and Mosca tumbled in behind Manni, Miss Jensen who was in the middle of a highly complicated dance step, froze right where she was and stared. Her eyes simply stared, alternating between the remnants of her shattered vase and the kids.

The children stared right back at her, too scared and stunned to do anything else. Slowly, it dawned on Miss Jensen that the shattered bits of china on her floor were once a beautiful and very expensive vase. Then another thought occurred to her. Those three children, the very children who had helped a hateful little mongrel escape less than a week ago, had just broken her precious vase. And if that wasn't bad enough, they had just caught her in the middle of one of her most private moments, while she was dancing. And from the way they were looking at her, with expressions of shock and fear and horror…she realised that some of that horror writ on their faces came from watching her attempts at dancing.

As she was engulfed with rage and humiliation, her face slowly and ominously grew red. She looked so terrifying that even the stout hearted would have quailed before her intimidating form. Her puffy face was twisted with hate, her eyes were narrowed and she breathed in short, sharp gasps.

She stomped up towards the three who were piled on top of each other. Miss Jensen roughly grabbed Manni by the collar and lifted him up in the air. She hissed as she flung him to the floor and with a shrill cry, she picked up Mila by her hair. Mila cried out and was about to protest but it was drowned out by the hard, resounding slap that Miss Jensen delivered across Mila's face. Mila's head whipped back as she flew nearly two feet across the room. As she sat there, stunned by the blow, a thin stream of blood trickled down her nose while her flaming cheek grew puffy, displaying the imprint of Miss Jensen's hand. Before she could make her next move, Mosca furiously leapt up onto Miss Jensen's back and pummelled her head with his little fist while Manni tried to bite her calf. With a frustrated grunt, she grabbed them both with one hand each and threw them to the floor.

She would have roughed them up some more but Miss Jensen was forced to restrain herself when Wheezy and Rhea suddenly burst in to the room, tired from the picnic. Rhea, who had a basket in her hand, dropped it in surprise as her hand flew to her mouth. Wheezy uttered a surprised grunt and took in the whole situation. As they saw the shattered vase and the three children on the floor, realisation slowly dawned on them.

Before they could say something, Miss Jensen strode up to them. Wheezy cowered behind Rhea who tried to edge back as much as she could.

Miss Jensen said with barely concealed frustration at the interruption, "I see you're back. I expect the children behaved themselves. Well, I suppose you have duties to attend to now, things to do…before you go, Wheezy, I want you to take these brats with you, put them to work, I don't care if they cry or scream or complain…I want you to make them work so hard, that they collapse with the effort…God knows its all they deserve to do…that's all they're good enough for, scrubbing floors and washing dishes, expecting them to do more would be asking for a miracle…"

Mila, who was still stunned, was huddled in the corner of the room while Mosca and Manni tried to wipe the blood off her face.

"Mila, are you alright?"

"Does it hurt a lot? The pain will go away, hey don't be sad…"

"Don't worry, it'll be alright, we're here aren't we?"

"Shut your blabbering you brats," Wheezy said gleefully.

They were too stunned to protest when Rhea and Wheezy roughly raised them to their feet and dragged them off to do their duties.

The children half walked and half stumbled along the corridors, their minds almost blank. They couldn't believe what had just happened to them. They were for the moment too stunned to react. No one had ever raised a hand to them their whole lives, no one had dared. Everything seemed to move so slowly.

They were now in the kitchen. Mila was still bleeding from her nose and her bruised cheek had grown bluish.

"Well, you can't say that wasn't coming your way, if I was in Miss Jensen's place I wouldn't a waited that long to beat you black and blue, she's too easy on you anyway…" rasped Wheezy. He seemed to be very delighted.

"Ooh, I've never seen Miss Jensen that angry before! Did you see her face? She looked ready to burst! Oh you brats have done it this time. I wouldn't be surprised if she gave you another whipping soon…" Rhea nodded sagely.

"Ha! I could help her out with that too…now listen to me you low lives…I'm going out now, I need to get away from all you brats…when I get back, I want the whole kitchen cleaned out…and stack those provisions properly…and sweep the storeroom…well, what are you staring at you worthless fools? Get to work!" Wheezy said and walked out through the back door.


	5. Chapter 5

4

As soon as they left, Mila sunk to her knees and started crying softly. Manni sat down next to her and delicately put his arm around her, trying hard not to cry, but to no avail. Even Mosca, who was normally so tough couldn't hold back the tears. He wet his handkerchief and gently mopped away the blood on Mila's face, which by now had stopped bleeding. He still couldn't believe the events of the past hour.

Time seemed to pass by very quickly. Abruptly, Mila stopped crying. Distracted, Manni and Mosca looked at her. She returned their gaze, with her eyes set. The boys were surprised at the way she looked at them. She suddenly looked braver, and if she was shaking before with tears, now it was with barely restrained fury.

She spoke calmly, "We're not going to do any of the things they told us to do. We never will. From now on, we are going to do what we want. I'm sick of being treated like a slave."

Manni interrupted, "But Mila, they'll never listen to us! We can't have our own way here…"

"Who says we're gonna stay here? We'll leave this place. And never come back. We'll go to Sera. It's what we've always wanted. We can leave tonight. While the rest of them sleep. We'll finish our chores for the night. So they don't get suspicious. That's it. We'll let them think that they won. Tonight, we'll pack up everything we have, it shouldn't take long, we hardly have anything…" Mila trailed off.

"But Mila, if we leave here, where else would we go?" Mosca asked.

"And what if they catch us?" Manni enquired.

"That's just it! They won't catch us! We have to leave, tonight. It has to be tonight, don't you see? We might never get the chance again. I can't take any more of this. Any place has to be better than this. We'll survive somehow. I want to go!" Mila insisted, close to tears again.

Manni and Mosca stared at her incredulously until the gravity of what she said sunk in. Mila looked pleadingly at them, hoping they would come with her. They didn't seem too happy about her idea.

"Well, if we're going to leave tonight, we'll need food. Mosca, give me a leg up, I think there are cookies in that cupboard up there." Manni said.

"Right," Mosca complied, "Be careful with that thing, we don't want to attract attention."

Mila simply gaped at them. Then a slow, delighted smile spread over her face and she jumped and whooped with joy.

"Shh! Don't get so excited. We still have to plan everything properly," Mosca cautioned.

"I'm sorry!" Mila whispered unapologetically, "I can't believe we're actually doing this!"

"It was your idea you crazy monkey!" Manni said as he swayed to and fro on Mosca's shoulders while he tried to get the jar of cookies off the shelf.

Manni almost lost his balance and was tottering dangerously with a huge cookie jar clutched tightly in his hands. He had one leg on Mosca's shoulder and the other was swinging wildly in the air as he desperately looked around for support. Giving him up as a lost cause Mosca let go of Manni and tried to catch the huge cookie jar that seemed to take ages to fall. The lid flew off in another direction and Mila dived to get hold of it. Amidst this last minute rescue operation, poor Manni was left in the air without Mosca's shoulders to support him until the inevitable occurred.

He crashed onto the linoleum and would've let out a loud, anguished wail if it hadn't been for Mila, who had the foresight to clamp her hands over Manni's mouth.

"Oww! My butt! I broke my butt! Help me, I think I'm dying!" he whispered in suppressed agony.

With the cookie jar lying safely on the floor, Mila and Mosca rolled on the floor as peals of laughter took control of them.

A disbelieving and extremely bruised Manni stared at them until he uttered a war like cry and started flinging cookie crumbs at them. If this was supposed to discourage the other two from laughing at his expense, he was wrong, they only laughed harder, until they were flushed and gasping for breath.

"You filthy traitors! I go out of my way to get those darn cookies for you ungrateful wretches and this is how you repay me? This is it! I'm finished with you!" Manni eyed them crossly as he delicately ran his hand over his rear, wincing occasionally.

"We're sorry Manni," Mila giggled, all pain forgotten, "We didn't mean to laugh at you, right Mosca?"

"Yes we did!" Mosca replied, triggering a fresh bout of laughter.

Resigning himself to his fate, Manni sighed and stood up, "Just my luck to be stuck with you two baboons…sometimes I wonder why I even bother.

"Anyway, it's time we hurried up, if we have to get these chores done and steal as much food as we can, we better start now."

"Alright, alright, quit nagging you old woman," Mila snickered.

Before Manni could retort, Mosca interrupted, "He's right Mila, we have to hurry, we don't have much time. And if we get caught, well we're finished then aren't we? Things are bad enough already."

Sulkily, Mila conceded and started helping out. Quickly, yet meticulously, the three started their search for essentials they might need during the journey they were about to embark on.

Within half an hour, they had kept aside three loaves of bread, some peppermints, several packets of biscuits, a half filled jar of marmalade, a cutting knife and five cartons of milk. As a bonus, they discovered four bars of expensive hazelnut chocolate that were discreetly peeking out from behind a can of flour. They presumed that Wheezy was responsible for that hidden cache of sweet delights and wondered how he could have afforded them.

With all their stolen goods, they snuck into the basement where all their belongings were and shoved everything into three raggedy cloth bags that they found in the broom closet. They had some money with them, coins mostly which they found here and there. They had stuffed in some bed sheets along with a few supplies they stole from the first aid kit at the orphanage.

After they checked that everything was in place, they hurried back to the kitchen and set about doing the tasks that were assigned to them by Wheezy. By the time he returned, the kitchen was sparkling clean.

Surprised that they had done their jobs so well after the days events, Wheezy gaped around, checking to see for something he could criticize them about. Finding nothing and grudgingly impressed, he barked, "The kitchen looks alright, I've seen it look better; but I'm feeling a bit generous today, you're lucky I'm so soft hearted. I'll let you off for now. But next time you mess up like this, you're gonna get it from me, oh yes you are, just you wait you nasty little weasels…now get lost…lemme have some peace…"

All too eager to comply, the three scurried out of the kitchen and started cursing Wheezy as soon as he was out of earshot.

"The kitchen looks alright, my foot!"

"Just what does he think he is?"

"If he was half as clean as that kitchen is then maybe he wouldn't always be covered in flies!"

"Stupid ugly beast!"

Amidst all these mutterings, they reached the basement.

"Have we packed everything?" Manni asked.

"I think so, I've got Pookey with me too, poor Pookey, I hate stuffing him inside this ugly bag…" Mila lamented.

"Mila, Pookey's a stuffed toy; I would hardly think he'd notice." Manni said.

"Oh really? Is that why you're wrapping your marbles in that sheet? So they don't feel the bumps on the road?" Mila shot back.

"This is different," Manni said, his voice cold.

"Would you two shut up, this is not the time; we're supposed to be escaping from this dump soon. We need a plan." Mosca intervened.

Looking daggers at each other, Mila and Manni shrugged and paid attention to what Mosca was about to say.

"Alright. We've already packed everything so that's taken care of. Now for the escape plan. We have three possibilities. We can leave from the door in the kitchen or from the dormitory or through that window in the corridor. I don't think we can risk leaving through the kitchen door tonight 'cos Wheezy might be there, we might get caught." Mosca said.

"It'll be all the more worse for us if he wanders back in an inebriated state," Manni said thoughtfully.

"What's inebree…never mind. The dormitory's gonna be tough too 'cos we'll have to sneak to the windows without waking up the others. And we can't risk it if Tina or one of those idiot whiners are awake." Mila added.

"So then we're left with the window in the corridor. It leads out into the backyard. Once we're there, we can climb over the fence into that empty house next door and from there we'll be on our way. Simple." Mosca smiled.

The three sat looking at each other with looks of mingled excitement and apprehension. All their lives they had lived at the orphanage. They had never known anything else. They were about to embark on the biggest journey of their lives which promised to be full of exciting new adventures. If they did feel a twinge about leaving their home for so many years, it didn't seem to matter too much.

"Okay then let's go!" Mila stood up and flung her bag across her shoulders.

The other two followed suit and they all quietly walked up the stairs leading to the store room. Mosca poked his head out the door and scanned the hallway for people. Finding no one, he softly padded down the hallway and reached Miss Jensen's office. He peeked in to find Miss Jensen snoozing in her chair, a sliver of drool running down her jaw. Wincing at the sight, he signalled to the other two to follow. In silence, they tiptoed through the corridor. They felt the nervous excitement build as they reached the end of the corridor and looked out the window that seemed to hold infinite possibilities.

Slowly, Mosca and Manni pulled open the shutter. Mosca signalled for Mila to go first.

Nodding her head, she sat on the window sill and swung her legs outside so she had her back to the boys. She let out a slow shaky breath and jumped, landing softly on the grass in the backyard. Manni went next and finally Mosca joined them.

As Mila turned around and started to walk towards the fence she jumped back in alarm as something small and black scurried towards her.

"Oh, look! It's that little black puppy that we helped escape last week!" Manni exclaimed.

"Mosca, can we take him with us? Please oh please can we? Huh can we?" Mila insisted, tugging on Mosca's sleeve.

Torn between amusement and exasperation, Mosca looked at the puppy's sad pleading eyes. Finally he sighed, "We might as well, he looks like he'll follow us anyway."

Delighted, Manni and Mosca took turns cuddling the little puppy, before Mosca scooted them along. The fence around the orphanage was cut quite low. So Manni got up first and jumped over to the other side. Mila handed the puppy to Manni and went up next, with Mosca helping her climb the fence. Mosca followed behind her until they all stood in the unkempt garden of an abandoned house.

"We did it! We did it! We di-di-di-di-di-did it!" Mila sang

Before she could sing further, Mosca hushed her, "Careful, we don't want to ruin everything now!"

Completely unabashed Mila hugged Mosca tightly and kissed him noisily on his nose. Before Manni could escape, she had him by the collar of his shirt and forced a kiss on his cheek. Mortified, Manni rubbed maniacally at his cheek, trying to wipe away all traces of Mila's impulsive gesture.

Laughing, Mosca led the way out through the front gate.

Finally finding freedom, they ran down the street and escaped into the night, laughing with happiness as their little puppy scampered along behind them, yelping joyfully.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I apologize for not updating to those brave few of you who actually made it this far. Being as lazy as I am, I didn't see the point of updating unless I got reviews. Sorry if this seems low, I'm just conserving time and energy…thanks for bearing with me this far:)


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